Cornucopia of Fall Food (and more) Festivals

There’s an abundant harvest of fun food festivals coming up in Dallas-Fort Worth, and most of them are family oriented, too! We’ve been sharing these bite-sized morsels on our daily “Jim White’s Wining and Dining Update” series on 98.7 KLUV, 103.7 KVIL, and 1080 KRLD (made possible by our friends at the Crest Auto Group). There are so many events coming up, however (and yummy to that!), we can’t get all the pertinent contact info for tickets in the radio reports–otherwise they’d be nothing but a blur of websites strung together. So, whadda you say we list as many as our attention span allows, and string a bunch of event websites together for you here where you can scroll and click to your heart’s content? That leaves the airwaves free to achieve what the legendary radio genius Gordon McLendon referred to as “theatre of the mind”. Cheers! And, bon appetit!

OAKTOPIA-September 22-24 in downtown Denton. More than 30 food trucks on hand for the first day. Norah Jones headlines the music. oaktopia.com

OKTOBERFEST-September 22-24 at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth. Indoor and outdoor biergartens, music, keg rolling. All kinds of goings-on (gotta love the dachshund races). Get your oom-pah-pah on and get details at oktoberfestfw.com.

CHEFS FOR FARMERS-September 23-25 various locations in Dallas. As the name implies, expect lots of great farm fresh ingredients prepared by some of the top chefs in North Texas and out of town toques too. Cool events happen in Lee Park and in the Design District Friday and Saturday night, and then the Main Event on Sunday afternoon in Lee Park features Matt McCallister from FT 33, Graham Dodds from Wayward Sons, John Tesar from Knife, Jeramie Robison from Uchi, Justin Fourton from Pecan Lodge and so many more! Over 50 wines from which to sample, too. chefsforfarmers.com

WESTERN DAYS-September 23-24 in downtown Lewisville. Cool tunes from The Eli Young Band and the Old 97’s, gunfights (reenactments…made you look), a cattle drive, and the World Tamale Eating Championship. Yee-haw! lewisvillewesterndays.com

SMOKED DALLAS-September 24 at Main Street Garden in Dallas. Music and barbecue festival (who could ask for more?), offering tastings from top pit masters and chefs, and tunes from the Toadies, Shinyribs and others. smokedallas.com

TASTE OF FIREWHEEL-September 24 at Firewheel Town Center in Garland. This second annual family food festival offers all kinds of tastes, live music, and a kids’ zone with inflatables (while mom shops inside the center!) firewheeltowncenter.com

STATE FAIR OF TEXAS-September 30-October 23. This year’s theme is “Celebrating Texas Agriculture”, but you know you’re hankering for some of the wacky fried food. Fried Jello and Cookie Fries are just a couple of this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards. I’ve got my eye on the the Deep Fried Bacon Burger Dog slider on a Stick, and the Great Balls of Barbecue. Go early while the grease is fresh! Yum, yum, eat ’em up! “Our state fair is a great state Fair!” Sing along here: “State Fair” opening theme; 1962 movie shot in Dallas at the State Fair of Texas (full disclaimer: racing scenes with Pat Boone shot at the Oklahoma State Fair). bigtex.com

COTTONWOOD ART FESTIVAL-October 1-2 at Cottonwood Park in Richardson. The semi-annual events features works from more than 240 visual artists, local bands, food, wine and craft beer. cottonwoodartfestival.com

SOUTHLAKE OKTOBERFEST-October 7-9 at Southlake Town Square. Go for the weiner dog races but stay for the live
entertainment, food and beverages (I think they’ll have some brewskis on hand). oktoberfestsouthlake.com